Expenditure
by Conscripts
Summary: When the work of handling with resources became a bit too difficult for the Admiral, he decided to hire a logistic and supply officer for the job. Hopefully she won't develop some kind of mental illness after this...Female OC
1. Chapter 1

**Well, this little thing has been written even before I posted my first fic, General. The form of writing was really awkward back then, so I have rewritten a little bit. A take in comedy and everyday life. I've written about tragedy, drama, romance and adventure. So it's better to just turn to something more light-hearted. And so I've decided to finally upload this to for everybody to enjoy. You may find a lot of references and so, as this was inspired by the Gaijin Teitoku and Things involving ship girls that are no longer allowed series. Please leave a review if you want to praise or criticize my story, although I only accept constructive criticism.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own KC and its characters**

* * *

The resources has been drained completely dry, even the metals, which is one of the most commonly unused.

The reason was simple: they have used them all up. More specifically, the ship girls.

And on what? Well, on food, for most part, to serve the ridiculously huge appetite these girls have, mostly Akagi though. She's a total monster. The rest…on the repairs of the shipyard's infrastructure, equipment, facilities…basically everything, in which was the result of bored individuals. Seemed pretty irrelevant and insane, but it was the truth. Insanity is a definition of life here at this kanmusu naval base.

"Fuck my life…"

And this poor, Admiral here, had the honor of soaking all of it into him. Standing one hundred and ninety centimeters tall and was blinded one eye, the naval base Admiral more appealed to his girls for his talent in military tactics than logistical organization. Clearly, his organization skill wasn't garbage and he was quite a good organizer when it comes to arranging fleet composition. But the problem was his sensitivity to the opposite sex, especially when trying to reject somebody from requesting something. He just couldn't do it. He was a kind-hearted person, who cared for almost everybody in the base, hoping to have them lead a normal life after all the fightings and so. But his methods were rather…unhealthy. He at first granted freedom to use the naval resources to everybody, but that obviously ended in disaster. Then some measures were taken to reduce the resource consumption, yet he still had that vulnerable blind spot for rejection against ladies, and they exploited it, pretty thoroughly.

He, on some occasion, had sworn that he would rather return back to the times when he was still struggling with the Abyssal's stranglehold than living in this endless chaotic hellhole. The famous Admiral, famous for his many victories against his enemy, bravely and heroically fought and lost the vision of right eye to turn the tide of the Pacific Abyssal War, now lied flat on his office desk, mentally defeated by his own ship girls.

"Ganbatte, teitoku (Do your best, Admiral)" His secretary ship, the legendary super-battleship Yamato, could feel his helplessness here. She too had seen it, heard of it, sensed it, and even tasted it herself. For someone who hadn't got many chances to experience it, it was definitely unpleasant. People usually say it is culture shock. Yeah…A chaotic and lawless culture.

"At this rate, all of my hair is gonna turn white before my thirtieth birthday. I have to do something."

"I suggest the best way to do it is for you to learn to reject people. I remember you were pretty strict before, where did that all go?" Ooyodo, who was sitting behind the radio set, said

"Excuse me, but I'm trying to not become that person I once was. Just not." He replied, his hands raised in defiance. That time was truly the most memorable days of his life, but he after all didn't want to return to being that kind of arrogant person.

Three years earlier, this used to be a starting point of a huge campaign that ultimately became the turning point of the Abyssal Wars. The Admiral was once a very strict, quite tyrannical, overconfident, but capable officer. After a series of consecutive victories, he had traced down the origin of the Abyssal hive, where it is located in the Bering Sea, in the Arctic. So a huge expedition force was assembled to wipe them all out of this planet, to put an end to all of it. But reality wasn't in favor of his ambition however, as the campaign ended in a complete disaster, after being forced to turn its back to Sakhalin due to several factors: lack of provisioning, the terrifyingly cold weather, and constant Abyssal harassment during the retreat. Returning with half of his fleet being put out of action, the Admiral had reconsidered, changed himself, his mindset, and managed to get the fleet together to counter and destroy the huge and inevitable Abyssal assault against his position there. His overwhelming triumph there had ensured all of Asia's and all America's protection against the Abyssal threat of an another invasion for years to come. But the losses he had seen in that faithful expedition had him vowed not to make that mistake again.

"You have grown soft after all these years. A little bit too soft though. Then…you will have quite a hard time from now on."

True. Even harder than devising strategies to fight Abyssals. But be honest, would you rather work out your brain to kill a bunch of emotionless shark-skinned beasts or to reject cute puppy faces? Back in the days, there were not many incidents like these because they were more occupied in dealing with their enemies and staying alive than this.

"Unless I think of an immediate solution, here and now." The Admiral said.

"Like what?"

"Well…"

He began pondering for a few minutes. Damn, what should he really do now? Come on think! For a future with hair!

For a while, the girls in his office thought that he couldn't actually think of it, that it was hopeless, and so returned to their duty. It was not only until about ten minutes later that he finally got something, something harmful…

"If I can't really change myself to handle it, then probably I should get someone else to deal with it."

Someone else?

"A logistic officer, perhaps, to handle the resources and expenses."

That's not the important thing here.

Hiring?

Who would be able to cope with this?

"No way." All the ship girls in his office uttered at the same time, in which stunned the one-eyed Admiral quite badly. Never before did he face that much objection.

"No way?! What's wrong with that approach?!"

"Admiral." Ooyodo said, sternly. "It's all to you to decide what you want to do with this naval base and us. But please don't drag others into this."

"If I don't have anything or anyone else to take this with me, then I'll die to insanity soon enough. And then, those successor to me WILL be dragged into this. You want that or not?"

"Then will you take full responsibility for all the mental disorder and pay for all mental hospital fee that he or she WILL develop in the future?"

"Yes!" He'd had enough of this.

"...Ok, then." Ooyodo ended. "God bless that person."

They all silently prayed. There is nothing to say to him anymore.

The victim, one of the most unfortunate, turned out to be a twenty years old woman. Logistic and Supply Chain officer of the JSDF Hatsune Amari. She was said to have studied supply chain management in Michigan University, and was believed to be a top graduate when she finished her course. Whether this was true or not, she was widely reowned for being very efficient in managing, and, more importantly, very strict, even to her superior.

Suggested by his friend, who once had a chance to work directly with her, the Admiral couldn't simply ignore this young but talented girl. Immediately afterwards he requested her change of post, since she didn't have much particular work at her places anyway. Several days later, it was accepted, and so she became an official worker at the naval base.

* * *

One week later.

"Here we are ma'am."

"Thank you captain!"

A young woman, donning a small-sized yet befitting ivy green uniform of the JSDF, had just gotten down from the boat that had transported her from mainland Japan to this rustic little island, her two hands each carrying a heavy suitcase, which was pretty oversized comparing to her small petite silhouette. She took a moment to catch her own breathe, as she checked her watch on her left hand.

Nine to eight. If she stays here any longer, she will be late.

Hatsune Amari, 163 centimeters tall, 53 kilograms heavy, although appeared quite upset about the fact that she had to spend a hefty amount of time to deal with the luggage, she was rather excited on the other hand. Finally she had found a place that she could actually blend herself in. A haven full of beautiful and honorable ladies who once fought for the great Empire of the Rising Sun. A true ladies' world. Actually not really. There was one male there, and that was the Admiral of the base. But knowing that he was that Admiral and not some crazy nobodies somewhat put her at ease.

After graduating from Michigan University, Hatsune returned to Japan and began working for the military to aid in the struggle against the Abyssals. But by the nature of its very existence, the military was full of men. Soldiers, officers, commanders, almost everyone of them were men. Women did exist there, but the numbers were relatively rare, because nobody wanted to serve in a place stinks of sweat and blood, especially during wartime, when you can die for no good reasons. Because of that, life can be pretty lonely. She did hang out with her female companions sometimes, but they too had their own jobs, and such.

That explained why she felt the ground below her flee before her when she received that request from the Admiral. Goodbye lonely world.

After crawling her ways with her two heavy suitcase in her hands to the base's entrance, she encountered one particular ship girl, who had short black hair like her, and wore a purple uniform with tight skirt, short white sleeve and gloves. On her head was a hair ornament that appeared to be a triangle on top of a circle.

"Good morning!" Hatsune said cheerfully, as it caught the kanmusu's attention.

"G-Good morning!" She replied, a bit surprised by the sudden greeting.

"Are you a kanmusu of the base?"

"Yes I am. How can I help you?"

"Do you mind telling me where the Admiral's office is? I am new here, so…"

"Eh…wait…" The ship girl looked at Hatsune carefully, then. "Are you the new logistic officer that the Admiral is talking about?"

"Yes I am, fresh from Yokosuka!" She puffed her cheeks. "I am Hatsune Amari. And yours?"

"I-I'm Haguro. Myoukou-class heavy cruiser." On the other hand, Haguro sounded a bit hesitant when introducing herself. Although having matured and more confident after the years of war, her shyness still, for some reasons, existed.

"Nice to meet you Haguro-san. Now, shall we go?"

"Nice to meet you Amari-san. And let's go."

After a few minutes, they found themselves at the door to the Admiral's office. Haguro gently knocked it.

"Who is it?" Answered yet another female voice, this time in a much lower tone than Haguro.

"It's Haguro. I brought the officer that was due to arrive."

"Oh, then just a moment." The voice replied. "Admiral! Wake up! She's here!"

Although she knew perfectly well that he couldn't wake up before nine, she still arranged the time to be sooner than that. Well played.

"They are at it again." Haguro giggled slightly from behind the door as she heard the thumping sound inside the office as the girls were waking up the young Admiral. "Things have been quite hectic recently."

"What? What happened?" Hatsune asked curiously.

"Well, he is having problems with handling with the base's expenses and such, due to several incidents. To be honest, he has been expecting you for a week now."

"Really?" Hatsune blushed a little. "But what incidents are you talking about?"

"I think the Admiral will tell you once you talk to him."

"Hmm…"

After about ten minutes, she was finally allowed to enter.

Before her was a very tall but thin man who was also in his twenty, a little bit older than Hatsune, probably five years older, wearing a blue IJN uniform. His eyes were very much red, but only the left one moved to look at her, since the right one was no longer usable.

At first glance, he looked serious and quite intimidating, but as soon as he saw her, his expression changed immediately.

"At ease." He said in response to her salute. "Are you logistic and supply chain officer Hatsune Amari?"

"Yes sir. Ready for duty!"

"Well…I guess I'll be brief. You see, I am having a bit of a problem here. And like I said a bit here I mean really big problem. To mkae you understand this more accurately, I want you to see this." He sighed lightly, as he pulled out a record of all the base's resource expenditure, which was a very long list that was rolled into a big paper roll.

"This is the list of what I have spent on during the last three months here. You can take a look."

Her eyes widened considerably after reading what was in it.

31/08/20XX: Repair of the carrier dorm's toilet. 121 metals, 43 bauxites, 4 buckets.

16/09/20XX: Reconstruction of the base's sortieing hangar, caused by live ammunition practice. 3012 metals, 1240 bauxites, 2240 fuel.

20/12/20XX: Akashi's failed development of the 51cm gun. 455 ammunitions.

20/12/20XX: Repair for the office's damaged wall, caused by the 51cm gun testing. 134 metals, 44 bauxites.

25/12/20XX: Christmas party. 5120 fuels.

03/01/20XX: Naka's live ammunition performance: 34 ammunitions.

14/01/20XX: Yuubari's testing of the Tsar Bomb: 321 ammunitions, 16 buckets.

'Tsar bomb? This isn't Bikini Atoll!'

"Why would you spend so much for such nonsense stuffs? And what is this? A bill for thirteen bottles of vodka?"

"Ah, that…" He sighed again, as he reminisced. "There is a destroyer here called Hibiki, now Verniy after several modifications. Back then she turned off the internet filter and ordered those vodkas herself. Thankfully I managed to stop her from drinking those, but still have to pay for them."

'Sweet ever loving Jesus…' A few minutes passed in silence, as Hatsune continued reading. All of this long roll…was just for three months?

"I hope you have grasped a bit of what you should do here. You are here to organize the base's expenditure of resources and money. I don't know how you are going to handle it but make sure it does not reach this number." He pulled out an iPad and opened an app that contained several graphs and statistics. He swiped down to the bottom of the page, where the seven numbers were highlighted.

Torches: 34

Buckets: 00

Fuel: 52

Ammunitions: 30

Metals: 64

Bauxite: 08

Money account: 457 yen

Hatsune was frozen on spot.

"Don't worry, the weekly batch of resource is coming this weekend. And every month, the higher-ups will send budgets into the account for you. So it isn't the end of the world. Yet."

Still, she had to take a few minutes to reconsider her purpose here. Cases were that her dreams of a haven working life here had been grinded to dust before she even got to it.

"Umm, sir. I have a question." The new logistic officer said.

"Yes?"

"These kind of incidents listed here…How often…" She proceeded, but without her cheerfulness.

"Ah…well, it depends. If the month is uneventful then probably a few times a week. If not then less often than that. Basically, you will not know what is gonna happen? Even right now you can expect a bomb or something to go off, destroying something in the process."

Just as he said that, a huge explosion could be heard screaming from the direction of the training area. From the looks of it, it appeared that the girls had decided to hold another game of Battleship, using live ammunitions.

"Oh god, that building is burning!" Hatsune rushed to the window, examining the extent of the damage.

"Your work begins today." The Admiral said, triumphantly. "Good luck."


	2. Chapter 2: First Week

**Good day fellow readers. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. First of all, I am back from oblivion, after a long time on hiatus. So my apologies for that. I have been having quite a time at the latter half of 2017. Attending some competitions, moving to Canada and other kinds of stuff that consumed my time. But now that I have gotten a bit of time in hand, I am ready to write again. And now I will focus on this fic, Expenditure, as this somehow placed a smile on my face while writing it. Hopefully you'll enjoy it!**

 **Secondly, I have another fic coming up here, also a Kantai Collection fanfic. I have pretty much all the pieces and have outlined the course of that fic, and the trailer of it shall be posted in the next chapter, here. Why here, you ask? You will find out soon. I'm pretty excited for it.**

 **Anyway, all in all, I'm back, and here's the next chapter for this fic. Enjoy, and please review if you have the time. Constructive criticism are very appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Kantai Collection, or any of its material.**

* * *

Chapter 2: First Week

Ok…

"OK!"

This is getting horribly out of hand!

Hatsune's job as the naval base's Chief Logistics and Supply Officers had only stepped into its fifth day, and yet it felt like a medium eternity. That course of mentality was caused simply by a string of unadministrated ideas and regulation illiterate. Each alone enough was already enough to ruin any administrator's day, but here, we are talking about both combined. Yes, all for miss Hatsune.

"I just want one simple life."

Is this what people call culture shock?

"Amari-san. Fight on…"

Came the silent prayer of the office's occupants. They had seen this coming miles away. The reason was simple, they had learnt it the hard way themselves.

The twenty years old woman was lying flat on her desk, after a day's hard work. Today, she had just finished repairing the building that was almost utterly destroyed due to the Battleship game when another catastrophe, sort of, happened, which involved a light carrier flying her new prototype plane indoors uncontrollably, smashing through a window and knocked out the power generator. As a result, the entire naval base's electric system went down for over 4 hours. And since this Naval Base is set on a tropical island, where winter became summer, and summer became rainy season, it caused a not very pleasant sight of young girls walking around in either sweat-soaked clothes or undergarments. You got the point.

"Lucky that I have that air conditioner inside of me." Battleship Yamato, the Admiral's chief secretary, had to heave a sigh of relief for not being listed among those many. One merit for being labelled as a hotel that was.

The statement was not so pleasant to hear as well, as the remaining room occupants gave her dangerous glares. The Admiral, who was sitting quietly next to Yamato, gave an unreadable smile, as he stood up from his chair and headed over to Hatsune.

"You know, that is probably the most impressive expression I have seen recently."

Yeah right…

She's literally faceplanting on her desk right now.

 _"From now on, Miss Hatsune Amari here shall be taking charge of the naval base's resource expenditure. This means that she will have full authority over what you spend and what you intend to spend…"_

She reminisces on that welcoming speech the Admiral delivered in front of over one hundred ship girls on her second day at work. So he was plotting this all along? In that case, she was utterly tricked. She had thought that by moving here, she would be able to experience a much better working environment and a more suitable job. It did partly satisfy her needs, but mostly not. Did he take advantage of that to lure her into accepting? From the looks of his recent attitude, he apparently did…

"But I did say you are given full authority, right?"

Her head jerked up a little at what the Admiral just said

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean you can do whatever you want with this base's resources. It's all yours to decide how it is managed and how it is spent." He then walked to the door leading to his room. "You're smart. Figure it out."

Figure it out...

Full authority...

"Ooh..." Hatsune finally lifted her head from the table in realization. But the Admiral had already exited the room. He was going to go out for a walk, and let the girl handle her own deals.

'What am I doing with my life in the last five days?' She laughed at herself mentally.

She was wasting it by the minutes.

But that would definitely change. At this exact moment!

"Ooyodo-san!" Hatsune suddenly slammed her desk, standing up all of a sudden from her chair. "I need you to transmit this message to everyone in the naval base."

* * *

The Admiral was heading out for a bit of coffee at Mamiya's when the transmission went off from the loudspeaker situated on top of a pole nearby.

"Attention all personals. Please return to your quarters immediately. For the rest of the day, everybody is to remain in their respective dorms. All outdoor activities are cancelled for the remainder of the day."

The announcement sent everyone nearby, especially the one who were hanging around outside, on a trip to utter and infinite confusion.

"Geez..."

Guess the coffee trip is over, huh...

Oh well, at the least, it seemed to be beginning to go into proper order with Hatsune on the post after all.

He did choose her to be his Logistic Officer for a reason.

"This announcement will take effect immediately. This is the Admiral's direct order..."

"Eh?"

It was at this moment that he knew...

* * *

"You know..."

The red-eyed teitoku was wiping off the water on his face as he said, his forehead wrinkling even harder than before.

"I know you don't want any unforeseen damage, but you need not include my name in the announcement."

That was probably the most terrible groping ever since Kongou's surprise jump into his office - disregarding all laws of gravity and physics. When he was back, he was soaked in his own sweat, with a case of near suffocation.

"They would not comply immediately unless it's a direct order from you." Hatsune replied sternly as she cocked her paper sheets together. "From now on, everything will be in proper order. Ooyodo-san!"

She told her, as the radiogirl did her part automatically: pulling out a piece of paper and a pen.

"Rule number 1!" Hatsune spoke loudly, her countenance facing her Admiral, while dictating for Ooyodo to write. "Every expenditure, purchases, online orders must go through my supervision. That also includes you, sir!"

'Now this is interesting…' The frustration on the Admiral's face disappeared, replaced by curiosity and mild excitement. The rest of the room's occupants were either baffling at the show the new Logistic Officer was putting up with, or were listening intensely.

"Rule number 2! You will not be able to use the money in the base's account, and there will be a limited amount of base resources that you can use. So there will be no more carriers devouring our bauxites."

'Oh shit, that won't be good…' The thought ran through Nagato's mind. She had seen the sight of a hungry carrier, and that was a not good memory. Surely, she knew that Kaga or the two sister, Soryu and Hiryu, would be able to put up with this, but for Akagi…that's a different story.

"Rule number 3!" Hatsune slammed the table again. "There will be a total redistribution of paycheque for each and every personals on this base. The amount of money you will receive monthly will depend on the contribution that you had over the course of the Abyssal Pacific War and the current contribution to the base's daily operation."

"So that means…" Mutsu, who was hearing all of this from the sideline, sitting with her legs crossed, said. "Kanmusus like Ooyodo, Nagato, me or Mamiya will have higher wages because they do a lot of works around?"

"Exactly." Hatsune pointed a 'bingo' finger at her. "The amount of resources used will also be the same. There will be general tiers to the salary level, but the amount will be specific. I will announce that along with this tomorrow. Rule number 4! For every damage caused to the base's infrastructure, the perpetrators must be responsible to pay for it. The repair cost will be docked into the amount of resources they can access. If the numbers exhaust, then it will be docked into the individual's own personal expenditure. So no more unauthorised weapon testing for Akashi or Yuubari."

'Those two are going to riot for this…' Nagato said her thoughts lowly. But oh well, that was for the best.

"And rule number 5 for base expenditure! If anyone want to exert their resource use, they must submit a formal form directly to me, with their name and signature, and must present good reasons for their use. When all tallied up, the resources we saved will be used for infrastructure repairs, supply maintenance and organizing public holidays. That is it for now. I will add more rules as I go over it tonight, and as I go along."

As Hatsune finished, the remaining room occupants, even Ooyodo, looked at each other thoughtfully. Some thought this may be good, and actually really good, but most figured that it might be too hasty, since a massive forced implementation of these rules may not be too much for a change. It was like everything was going normally and BANG, the rules that everybody was so used to was wiped off completely, replaced by a brand new one. It would take a lot of times, effort, tears, sweat, or maybe even blood to get used to this one.

"What do you think Admiral? For me, I think it might be too much for-" Yamato, the secretary ship, spoke out. But before she could finish…

"Approved." The Admiral had already made his final decision.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The entire room was dumbfounded.

"What is on your mind Admiral? How come you approve it so quickly?" Yamato said, calmly. Unlike most people, she was very much used to this situation, since she had stayed with him for so long, worked with him so many times, and enjoyed both joy and sorrow throughout the course of the war. When the Admiral said things like this while the rest of the high commands were pretty much undecided over some trivial things, it was usually something very insightful, something really ingenious and smart, along with logical explanations to back up his thesis. So she was kind of expecting that sort of answer.

But to her disappointment…

"Well, I think it is simply good for the base, since it is from Miss Hatsune." He said, blatantly. "She is, after all, one of the best in logistics here."  
Absolutely no logical explanation. Absolutely nothing new. Absolutely nothing smart or ingenious.

'In other words, you are pushing the job onto her, aren't you, Admiral?' The thought screamed to each and every kanmusus present in the room. Yamato was struggling to keep herself from showing her disappointment in front of him. Nagato was discreetly facepalming herself. Mutsu gave one of the legendary dead-fish eyes, while Ooyodo simply turned away.

What had happened to our once responsible and upright Admiral who was always up to his duty?

"Great! Now Mutsu-san, please arrange a public announcement at the parade ground at exactly 0900 tomorrow. I want everyone to be there. No exceptions."

* * *

The next day.

The parade ground were full of kanmusus, with pretty much all of them confused and angered over yesterday's incidents. The Admiral was standing in the sideline and was watching to see if the entirety of the kanmusus were here yet. When he felt that they all were present and accounted for, he took the stage.

"Good morning ladies." He began. "First of all, my apologies for the sudden announcement last afternoon."

He glanced towards Hatsune, in mild irritation for the misunderstanding she had caused, but held back the urge to say the words 'it wasn't me' for her sake.

"It serves the purpose of our today's announcement. From today, the base will go under a huge reform of rules and regulations."

Murmurs and small talks began to spread throughout the kanmusus. The Admiral paused, to let his words sink before continuing.

"Now I present to you: Logistic Officer Hatsune Amari, who will be explaining this reform in great details for you all to hear. Please." He stepped down, and invited the girl to take the podium.

"Thank you Admiral." She paused briefly before beginning. "As we can see, our naval base is under a very serious economic issue. And as I see it, it is long caused mostly because of several unregulated and unnecessary spending by the base's personals. And it has caused a not very pleasant amount of stress for the administrators over here. And I'm sure some of you here could understand it as well"

She paused again, as she noticed several girls nodded in approval. They must be the sane one around here. "As a result, I will be changing a bit of the regulations around here. And by a bit means entirely!"

'Oh boy, here's the fun part.' The Admiral smirked mischievously.

"In a minute from now, the papers containing the new rules concerning the base's expenditure will be distributed to you. But now I will go through the general rules that all of you must remember by heart. Rule number 1!…"

And then she went on to explain the rules that she had already presented to the Admiral and the high commands the day before, adding several small details to it for the presentation. And hell, she was really good at it. Being able to speak like that for the whole 5 minutes in front of hundreds. Some would freak out and break from the intense pressure, but the girl was simply relentless, confident and prideful of her positions, as she spoke with her heart and mind.

The moment she finished her speech, the entire ground was silenced, unsure how to respond as a whole. Most were very baffled by the sudden changes. Some were negative, shocked. Some were neutral, showing proper understanding to the reasons Hatsune would come to this decision. A few were relieved, and asked themselves how come these rules did not come earlier. But these sane individuals were, unfortunately, rare among the insanes.

"One thing before I return the mic to our Admiral. The salary distributions will be measured according to tiers, from one to four, with one the lowest and four the highest. The numbers will be specific to each and every ship girls, but the tier is to show how much contribution you are both in the past and in the present. Tier one salary indicates that you have not many contributions to the base, and mildly participated in the Pacific Abyssal War, and the wars before that. But don't think that by getting this tier, you are useless. It's just that your role is a bit…less significant. You will still get enough for living and other stuff."

"Tier two salary indicates that you have some contributions to the base, and have achieved some significant victories over the Abyssals over the course of the war. Tier three indicates that you have significant and important contributions in the development and maintenance of the base, or that you have take part and fought bravely in many different theaters and battles in the war. And finally, tier four salary is the highest amount you can ever achieve. This tier is very limited, since in order to reach this tier, you will have to prove that you are one of the indespensible part of the base, and that you are one of the trump card in the struggle against the Abyssals, playing the key role in their destructions."

As the statement went over the crowd, murmurs began to ripple.

"The tiers and numbers that you receive will not be permanent. You will be able to get a higher reward if you contribute more. You will also be dropped to lower tiers if you don't contribute at all, even if you are one of the key players in the Abyssal War. You will be issued with documents concerning your rankings and stuff over there after this is finished, so please step in line and state your name once you are there."

After a brief moment, Hatsune ended her speech with a bow. The Admiral returned to the podium afterwards, but had nothing else to say so he dismissed the girls.  
Hatsune, the Admiral and the rest of the high command then headed down for the line for the paycheque handing, to have their own wages issued, as well as seeing their reaction on some of the kanmusus faces when they learnt about them.

* * *

"Tier two?! Even lower than Hosho-san?! Come on! I've fought properly from the start until the end of the war. I even participated in the final triumph at Sakhalin!" It was Light Carrier Jun'you who was surprisingly shocked at her wages, as the number dipped significantly lower than most carriers and even seaplane tenders. The only exception was Chitose, and there was only one reason.

"That's because your drinking tendency has done pretty much no good for our bases. At least Hosho-san is sharing Mamiya-san's work to feed us." Her sister Hiyou replied. Hosho also had tier two, but her wage was almost at the top, while Junyou was at the bottom. At least the girl now had a reason to cease her uncontrolled and no-braking drinking.

* * *

"How…" Ashigara's face was dead serious. "How's Haguro's earnings on a whole different tier than us?!"

Haguro was tier four, comparing to the Myoukou's tier three. Bottom in terms of tier four, but still, really luxurious for a person like her.

"Gomennasai, nee-san! (I'm sorry, sister!)" The youngest of the sisters were covering her head, balling like a cat, her eyes shut tight, as she wailed in fear of her nee-san's rage.

"But wasn't she the Admiral's favorite ship during the war, next to Yamato-san?" The eldest of the four, Myoukou, said. "I mean, if holding out against an army of thousands of Abyssals and returning alive was not extraordinary, then I don't know what will."

In fact, she did so twice. Once back in World War II, although sadly she didn't make it back alive, and another was during the Abyssal conflict. Admittedly, nobody would have thought that she would not let history repeat again.

"But it shouldn't make any difference! I mean we have all contributed to the war ourselves. Myoukou nee-san, you served in most of the major battles, how come you are only tier three?" Ashigara replied, apparently still irritated over the fact that she got the bottom of all the four Myoukou sisters. Her ramble was only blocked by the arrival of the one in charge.

"Is there a problem, Ashigara-san?" Hatsune's face was serious, as she moved from the sideline to pat the heavy cruiser on the shoulder.

"Yes there is a problem. You see, I find it quite unfair that we all have similar contribution, but Haguro receives more than us." Ashigara said.

"Then perhaps you should congratulate her instead. She's your sister, you know." Hatsune simply countered.

"But-"

"Your amount is, admittedly, a bit too much for your own expenses. I've been very kind to hold your teaching contribution in high regards, so you can stop complaining about it and move on."

The heavy cruiser utterly silenced herself at the words of her superior. Technically, Hatsune wasn't exactly her superior, but the Admiral, but since he just passed the torch to her (without any hesitation), now every orders she gave the ship girls, they would have to follow.

As the girl came to a corner and sulk quietly there, Haguro headed for Hatsune, as friendly as the first time she had met her.

"A-Amari-san. What tier do you get?"

"Ah, I do not have one." Hatsune said, the seriousness on her face disappeared. "My earnings are determined by the higher-ups in the military. Besides, it would be unfair if I decide it on my own, right?"

"Is it?" Haguro smiled. "I was so surprised when I got the number. I wouldn't imagine myself getting so much for what I have done."

"You've been very helpful. I mean it. I heard from the destroyers that you are a great teacher."

"Eh?!" Haguro was caught off-guard. "N-N-No, I'm not that great!" Flustered and blushing.

"Better than Ashigara-san, they said." Hatsune commented, as she glanced at the mentioned heavy cruiser, who was still sulking in the corner. "Still, I don't believe rumors lie. You know, I used to aspire to be a teacher."

"Really?" Haguro said, interested.

"Yeah, but then I realize that I am not good at transferring knowledge to others." Hatsune scruffed her hair as she said. "For some reasons, when I explain academic things, people usually fall asleep on their desks. Still, back when I was in university, I worked as a teacher assistant for a high school."

"Sugoi (Wow), that's so cool!" Haguro replied. "So you earn money while you study, Amari-san?"  
Hatsune nodded, seemingly proud of herself.

"You must have a lot of experience on hand." The heavy cruiser replied. "…A-Ano, if you want to, you can come and assist at my next class. I-I'm sure the destroyers would be excited..."

Hatsune was not quite expecting such an offer. But all in all, it wasn't anything bad. It wouldn't hurt by simply going. In fact, she may even get a chance to get to know the ship girls as well. It would also be a change of air for the Logistic Officer. She had worked like a complete savage for the last six days, without rest or anything. So a little change of pace wouldn't be bad, or even beneficial to her own cause.

"Sure, I'd love t-"

It was then when it hit her.

"...On second thought, maybe later..."  
Fatigue and exhaustion from all her restless efforts had finally caught up to her, as her eyes began forcefully shutting. Hatsune was still standing, but she began to lose her balance, as her mind was now half-conscious. Her eyes threatening to shut close at any moment.

"Amari-san! A-Are you alright?!" Haguro was slightly panicking when she saw Hatsune in that state. Her flustered face, along with the stutters that she made placed a smile on Hatsune's face, even when she was tired.

"I'm fine, it's just..." Her eyes flashed repeatedly, as she grabbed hold of the wall for support. "I'm a little tired..."

It was then that the girl was supported by her fellow colleagues whom she had been working closely with: Mutsu, Nagato and Ooyodo, to help her get back to her room for a fine rest, after all that body beating.

"Good job Hatsune." The man in charge, her Admiral, commented quietly, saluting her, as she walked pass him. Hatsune didn't return the gesture, however. She was a bit too tired for it

Tomorrow would be a new day. A brighter day, perhaps...


End file.
